


rip up the maps by the seams

by thebitterbeast



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: But also, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Multi, Prompt Fill, and found out, and misconceptions are challenged, guess what people Ray Palmer swears!, in which relationships are established, look i had a lot of fun writing this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-02-26 22:54:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23375680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebitterbeast/pseuds/thebitterbeast
Summary: How the Legends find out Ray Palmer is not a morning person. (And also about his relationship status.)Prompt: ColdAtomWave + the team finding out because wearing each other's clothes, specifically shirts.
Relationships: Ray Palmer/Mick Rory/Leonard Snart
Comments: 10
Kudos: 45





	rip up the maps by the seams

**Author's Note:**

> written for and prompted by [my friend Lanie](https://agreatandhonorablesoldier.tumblr.com/).

Contrary to popular belief, Ray was not really a morning person. He never had been, but over the years, he had gotten very good at pretending to be. Between morning classes and then morning meetings and then everyone's expectations upon meeting him, he had trained himself to wake up early and down a pot of coffee so that he could function like a human being and greet everyone with a bright smile on his face. Even on nights when he worked in the lab, he would keep that smile and energy.

There were two people on the Waverider who knew better though. They had figured him out early enough in their journey. It had taken them some time, but first Mick had seen something behind Ray's smiles in the gulag, and then Len had seen something in his eyes when the pirates had attacked, and by the time they were nearing the Oculus, they had seen through his facade to the man so desperate to keep people from leaving that he pretended to be everything they expected at the expense of pieces of himself.

Of course, with everything that wound up happening at the Oculus, they could do nothing about it, and Ray did not even realise how well they saw through his mask. Not until he tried to be there for Mick, tried to be his friend, did he realise that Mick saw Ray. Just Ray, as he was. And for Mick, just Ray was enough.

It was a novelty for Ray. The last person for whom just Ray had been enough had been Anna, and, well, that grief was no longer raw, but an ache he had learnt to deal with. He did not know how to approach the fact that Mick saw him as he was, and did not seem to find him lacking.

So in true Ray Palmer fashion, he slapped a smile on his face and pretended he did not know any of it.

Mick would have called him out on it, he was sure, but for the silent pleading in Ray's eyes. It was too much, and neither one of them were in the right frame of mind to open up that can of worms. They needed time. Which, since they were on a time ship, they should have had a lot of, so of course that was what they did not have.

Because Len was back, and Len was taking one look at Ray, and at Mick, and rolling his eyes and calling Mick soft. And Ray? Ray was realising that Mick had not been the only one to see him, and that maybe Mick had been seeing him for a lot longer than he had thought. He did not know what to do with that, and with both the (former) criminals looking at him and seeing something no one else seemed to.

The look in their eyes was enough for him to know he was out of time.

He fled to the lab anyway.

For a small space, he was surprisingly good at avoiding the duo. He could hear them getting exasperated, see it in the way they would shoot him annoyed glances whenever the team were in a room together. He could read them, he found, as well as they could read him.

It should have scared him. It didn't.

They finally cornered him in the lab. Or rather, Gideon helped them corner him, and he stood, resigned and apprehensive. It was irritating, Len drawled, to have to chase him down when they all knew this conversation was coming.

No more running_,_ Mick warned, arms crossed across his chest.

Ray could not meet either of their eyes, because he knew they were right. The truth was that running was all he was good at.

Both thieves scoffed simultaneously. He was ridiculously self-sacrificing, Len accused, ready to die for anyone and anything. He did not look happy about it.

He could science his way out of anything, Mick reminded him. To anyone else, he would look as he always did - imposing and gruff. To the other two men in the room, he looked almost gentle and soft.

The scientist pressed his lips together. What good was all of that if he couldn't save everyone?

He tried, Mick said. More than anyone, he tried. Even if it meant he got hurt, he tried.

A little too ready to put himself in the line of fire, Len agreed, but he tried. And he got them to try to, sometimes.

End of the day, he still didn't matter, Ray argued.

Bullshit. Mick was scowling, and if he couldn't see that, he was a bigger idiot than Mick thought.

Len raised an eyebrow. He was surprised Ray was ignoring the fact that clearly, he mattered to the two of them.

Ray crossed his arms across his chest defensively. That was the one thing he didn’t get about them. Everything else was easy, even if not to anyone else. But why they cared so much about him? He didn’t get that.

Because, Len shrugged easily. His stupid puppy dog eyes got under their skin.

That stupid heart reminded them they had hearts too, Mick added.

They'd always had hearts, Ray retorted. They just liked pretending not to.

Len smiled. Not smirked, **smiled**. And that's why they cared about him. He saw through them. He saw them for who they were, no excuses, but he made them want to be better. At least a little.

He saved them, in different ways. Mick stepped forward. They saved each other, the three of them.

Ray stood where he was as they moved towards him. Len reached him first, and he approached as though he had all the time in the world. First a hand curling around Ray's bicep. Then stepping into his space, making Ray look down to meet his eyes. And then finally, _finally_, kissing him slowly like he was savouring every second.

Mick was the exact opposite. He pulled Ray towards him once that first kiss had broken. He moved impatiently, urgently, as though if he did not move now, he would never get another chance. He kissed Ray greedily and demanding, as if this first kiss were their last.

And when he pulled away, Ray made his move. Simple, and inevitable. He grabbed hold of their hands, and tugged them out of the labs.

The filthy grins Mick and Len exchanged only made Ray laugh.

That had been months ago, and Ray wished he could say he was surprised that no one had noticed a change in their relationship, but no one else had really seen the three of them for who they were, only as who they thought they were. They didn’t notice the familiar byplay, the casual touching, or the inside jokes. They didn’t even notice the change in sleeping quarters.

Mick grunted about them not needing to know anyway, the oblivious idiots.

Len wanted to mess with them.

Ray just found that for once in his life, he didn’t care what anyone thought of him. He knew what Len and Mick thought of him, and that was all that mattered.

That made them very late to breakfast, so for the first time since Rip had gathered a group of people together, the team was privy to just how much of a morning person Ray was not.

He was bleary eyed and messy haired and there was no smile to be found on his face. He had no greeting for anyone, and seemed to hear nothing either. In fact, the team was stunned to find that he was frowning, an unfamiliar expression to them.

Ray went straight to the coffee pot, swearing under his breath when he found it empty. The team was shocked, casting glances around helplessly at each other as Ray continued to swear and rummage through the cupboards.

Sara caught sight of Len smirking, leaning against the galley doorframe and narrowed her eyes at him. "Is that Mick's shirt?" She asked, bewildered. And then her tone turned incredulous. "Is that a _hickey_?"

Len's smirk grew in response, and he simply raised one shoulder in a shrug.

Sara opened her mouth to continue with her interrogation but was interrupted by Ray slamming a cupboard shut. "Where the fuck is the coffee? Who the fuck finished the coffee."

"Ray, buddy," Nate started cautiously before he froze and took in the man's outfit. "Are you wearing Snart's shirt?"

Ray blinked in response and then scowled. Nate and Jax actually flinched away slightly from the look. "What the fuck does that have to do with the fucking coffee."

"Just give Haircut his damn coffee before he kills someone, geez," Mick groused as he walked past Len, tapping his ass once as he did, and moved towards Ray, guiding him to walk towards Len and away from the team.

"Is that _Ray's_ sweater?" Nate sounded shocked and accusatory.

Mick barely glanced at him as he walked back to the coffee pot and easily began making a pot. "Yeah?" Like it was common knowledge he wore Ray's clothes and Nate was an idiot for never noticing.

"I am so confused," Jax covered his face with his hands. Muffled, he continued, "and everything I'm thinking just makes me want to not know for sure so please don't say anything."

To his shock, Mick chuckled and freed one hand to pat his shoulder. "Can't make promises about Len, kid."

Said man had wrapped an arm around Ray's waist, ostensibly to keep him there, but in truth so that he could cuddle the taller man. "We're all three together, have been for months, thanks for noticing." He grinned at Jax's pained groan. "Now is Raymond's coffee done so their brains stop leaking out of their ears at the thought of him being _human_ and not a robot?"

Mick poured a mug, glanced at the pot, and then carried both over towards Len and Ray. "Here," he said, gently pressing the mug into Ray's hands and ignoring the gaping of their team. "Drink, and there’s more where it came from."

The scowl fell off of Ray's face in favour of a more familiar sight, though this smile was utterly besotted and sappy. "I love you."

Nate sputtered at Sara, waving his hands about. Len raised an eyebrow at them, smirked at their utter befuddlement and then turned Ray away from the galley. The taller man was still murmuring endearments, to Mick or the coffee or both, and let himself be led away easily.

Before he followed behind them, Mick looked at the team levelly. "Anyone have a problem with this can fuck right off." And then he stalked away.

Jax called out a beat too late, after Mick was out of sight, "are you talking about your relationship or Ray not being a morning person?"

**Author's Note:**

> UH. So obviously this is very headcanon based and broached, but yeah, I love angst, and I love Ray, and I love them.


End file.
